95. The Last Word - San Antonio City Council’s Failed Vote to Fund Abortion Travel

This week’s Last Word commentary examines the San Antonio City Council’s failed vote on funding abortion travel, a decision that reflects both the city’s political divide and the larger struggle between state and local governance in Texas.

Bob Rivard breaks down what happened in the council chambers, why the vote failed, and what it signals for San Antonio’s upcoming elections. With abortion access increasingly restricted statewide, this debate raises broader questions: Should cities step in where state laws limit healthcare options? And how will this issue shape the future political landscape in San Antonio?

Join us for a thoughtful reflection on the implications of this vote and the shifting dynamics of local power and state control.

The Last Word: San Antonio City Council’s Failed Vote to Fund Abortion Travel

Today I’d like to talk about abortion travel and the San Antonio City Council.

If a close friend or extended family member needed financial help to travel out-of-state for women’s reproductive services, including a legal abortion, I am certain my wife and I would be there to help.

We respect people whose religious beliefs are the foundation of their opposition to abortion, but we categorically reject their right to impose those beliefs on others. And we oppose elected officials who covet the votes of evangelical Christians and others on the extreme fringes of the Republican Party who celebrate laws they pass denying women their reproductive rights and control over their own bodies.

It’s amazing how Donald Trump, Greg Abbott and so many others in recent years have discovered their own spiritual fervor for opposing Roe vs. Wade, Planned Parenthood and just about every other legal and medical protection once afforded the women of Texas and beyond.

All that said, I was glad when a committee of San Antonio City Council voted down an attempt by several council members to use taxpayer funds to pay for women to travel out of state to seek abortions. I sympathize with council members wishing to support women and families that lack the resources to travel for reproductive services. I just don’t think it falls within the realm of what council members should be funding and focusing on in their official roles.

I am guessing a majority of city taxpayers agree with me.

If members of the council want to undertake personal fundraising campaigns to help women end their pregnancies, I would applaud them. The draconian laws that have eliminated virtually all abortions in Texas have already had some predictable, tragic consequences.

More than 100 girls ages 17 or younger, some younger than 12, left the state and received abortions last year, according to state data reported by local media outlets. Last week, a woman left a newborn baby, its umbilical cord still attached, on an Eastside sidewalk in the bitter cold one block from where our sons live. Another woman was being sought locally after giving birth in a bathroom stall and attempting to flush the baby down a commode. These are desperate people who never intended to get pregnant and would not be able to responsibly parent a newborn.

When individuals unable to cope with parenthood do have unplanned babies, the outcomes are often dire. Unfortunately, the same politicians so morally opposed to abortion these days show little interest in supporting the babies after they are born. Here in Texas, we continue to turn down billions of dollars annually in federal Medicaid funding. Yet Texas has the highest number of uninsured families in the nation. State officials could easily dip into the billions of dollars of windfall revenue they have to spend and actually allocate those funds to help vulnerable families. But that is not going to happen. Not with the state’s current leaders, or as long as the Republican party has a gerrymandered grip on the state..

Frustration among more democratically-minded council members is easy to understand, but the issue is beyond their control or mandate as district representatives. The current council established a $500,000 Reproductive Justice Fund in 2024, but council members who sought an additional $100,000 for abortion travel were outvoted in committee last week.

Councilwomen Melissa Cabello Havrda and Adriana Rocha Garcia, both running for mayor support that additional funding. As both seek to move out of their districts to win citywide support, my guess is they will encounter many voters opposed to city-funded abortion travel.

My unsolicited advice to all the mayoral and council candidates running for office in the May 5 election is to focus on key issues facing council. Resources are scarce and already inadequate to meet infrastructure needs and other pressing matters. There is more than enough wealth in San Antonio controlled by pro-choice individuals to fund abortion travel at the proposed level.

That’s my Last Word for this week. Thank you for listening. Please share this episode with friends and colleagues, and do sign up for the newsletter.

Bigcitysmalltown is brought to you by Weston Urban, building the city our children want to call home, and Geekdom, where startups are born and smart ideas become businesses.

Our producer is Cory Ames. Video by Erica Rempel. Sound engineering and editing by Alfie de la Garza of Sound Crane Audio.

We will see you next week.

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